Photographer Spotlight: Tom Medvedich

Tom Medvedich is a professional still life and portrait photographer based in New York City. His work can be found at TomMedvedich.com. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter, @tommedvedich. I would describe my style of photography as…  I’m focused on getting commercial work, and I think both my still life and portrait images are clean and graphic, with an emphasis on showing lots of detail. You’ve photographed some of the biggest names in sports and music from Lebron James to Rick Ross, of all your portrait shoots which one was your favorite and why? Shooting Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Jimmy Iovine for an XXL cover was incredible because I remember sitting on an apple box looking through the lens and seeing these guys standing in front of me. It was just so surreal to think back to being a kid and listening to their music and I just felt very grateful that photography has afforded me a life that I could never have dreamed of. Besides, it’s not every day you can have a casual conversation with pop icons. How did you get started with tethered photography? When I was assisting right out of college, I remember working on car shoots and just being so impressed that you could see the shot on a 30” monitor instantly. I’m in the generation of people that was probably the last to learn the basics of photography on film cameras so I was really blown away. Shooting tethered for still life as well as portraits has really helped for the obvious reason of being able to see the images on a large display. It has definitely become the standard and I can’t imagine working without it at this point. My dream gig would be… Since I love both still life as well as portraiture, it would be a dream to team up with a client and combine a product, like a watch brand, with a really great personality like Bill Murray or Iggy Pop and shoot them in an amazing location. I would love to capture the person in the location and then shoot vignettes of the product in the same environment to create continuity and tell the story. My favorite piece of gear is…       My 105mm Nikon Macro is amazing. I just love seeing detail and nuances that we often overlook in day to day life. My favorite piece of TetherTools gear is the TetherPro USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Micro-B Right Angle Cable 15′. I use it every day and it’s rock solid. I LOVE it and recommend it to everyone. What’s on your photography gear shopping list in 2016?         I’ve been eyeballing the Sony A7Rii, but I might wait to see if they release the iii this year. It’s such a cool camera and I would love to add it to my arsenal! The best advice I can offer a fellow photographer would be… There’s always going to be jobs we do just for the check. But in between those jobs, shoot what you really love shooting. Your passion for it will come through when talking to clients and you will end up being so much happier once those become what you do most of. There’s a market for almost anything these days, so stick with it and get really good at it, and you can make a career of it!